


one step ahead

by rainbowsmitten



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Background Mermista/Sea Hawk, Everyone Thinks They're Together, F/F, Fluff, Getting Together, POV Alternating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-07 19:34:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17372045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowsmitten/pseuds/rainbowsmitten
Summary: “Why didn't you tell me you and Adora were dating?” Bow yells, bursting into Glimmer’s room. It’s dramatic, yes, but he thinks he has the right to be a little dramatic.“Me and Adora are dating?” Glimmer responds, bewildered.(AKA: 5 times people thought Glimmer and Adora were together)





	one step ahead

**Author's Note:**

> written for keiththeweirdo at tumblr for the she-ra secret santa! hope you had a happy holiday!
> 
> this is not christmas-related but it is fluffy and tropey and ridiculous. hope you like it!
> 
> please feel free to point out any mistakes, i'm the worst at spotting stuff.
> 
> edited a little on 18/01/19

**1.**

“Adora,” Angella says as the meeting is finishing up and the other princesses are filtering out the room, “may I speak to you?”

“Oh,” Adora responds, a little startled, “Of course, Your Highness.”

She glances at Glimmer and Bow beside her and raises her eyebrows. “ _Alone?_ ”

“Mom-” Glimmer starts to protest, but Adora gives her a reassuring look and touches her arm gently. Angella hears Adora’s quiet, “It’s fine, you two go ahead,” and suppresses a smile when Glimmer’s resistance melts away.

Once Glimmer and Bow leave, with only a few nervous glances back, Angella turns to Adora, who seems to be doing her best to school her expression into something calm and confident, but she seems jittery anyway under Angella’s gaze.

Angella has been told before that she’s a little- intense. As a leader and a Queen, this is a relatively good thing. As a mother, not so much. She makes her daughter’s friends nervous and, now, her daughter’s girlfriend.

Angella tries to ease the tension with a smile. The extremely awkward smile she receives in return indicates it doesn’t work.

“Adora, I want what’s best for my daughter,” she begins and then, realising she doesn’t know where to go from there, takes a deep breath.

“Of course, you’re, uh, a great mom, ma’am. I mean, not that I would know, I don’t have a- well, Shadow Weaver was kinda- but not really, but, uh, you! You’re great!”

“Adora,” Angella interrupts and it must sound a little warmer than before because Adora heaves a sigh of relief. “You have nothing to prove, you’ve shown us all that you are an honorable woman, regardless of your- background. I trust you. But I don’t want to see Glimmer hurt-”

“I would never let that happen!” Adora exclaims, determination and passion momentarily replacing her nervous disposition, before she realises she’s interrupted the Queen and goes back to wide-eyed uncertainty.

Angella can’t help but smile, though; Adora is so like Glimmer, stubborn and strong-willed, and Angella knows they’re good for each other, even if they may be inclined to encourage each other’s more reckless urges.

But, still. “Sometimes, Adora, we can’t protect the people we love, no matter how hard we try. In war, nothing is certain. But Adora- I know you will do your best. You always do. I just -”

Angella sighs, suddenly feeling very tired, right down to her bones, and by Adora’s somber expression, she knows what Angella’s saying and what she isn’t, not outright at least.

“I understand, ma’am. But I can’t let fear rule me. I can’t let it isolate me- we’re all stronger together than we are apart, even if that means it hurts more when- well, when things go bad.”

Adora looks, for a few seconds, much older than she truly is, like the whole world’s on her shoulders, like she is also very tired; almost, for a moment, a mirror. And then, suddenly, the moments gone and Adora, young and stubborn and strong Adora, stands before her with a bright sort of hope in her eyes that Angella can very distantly remember having, once when Micah still stood next to her.

“I’m glad it’s you,” Angella says.

“Well,” Adora says, bashful all of a sudden, ducking her head and rubbing her neck, her hand brushing the hilt of her sword briefly. “I’m trying my best.”

“You always do,” Angella repeats faintly.

“I, uh. Was that it? Because I should probably catch up with Glimmer and Bow.”

“Right, of course,” Angella says, wondering if that went well or if it only served to make Adora uncomfortable. She showed approval, didn’t she?

“Adora,” she calls, just as Adora’s hand reaches for the door handle. “You’ll take care of her, won’t you?”

Adora, turning back, looks a little puzzled and says, with a sheepish sort of smile, “Well, I’d say it’s more her taking care of me, really. But, uh, yeah, of course.”

Angella laughs, quiet and fond, to herself as Adora leaves. It makes sense; Glimmer always did hate being fussed over. But whether they knew it or not, Adora did take care of her, just as Glimmer took care of her. That’s what people do when they’re in love.

 

**2.**

“Hey Adora, have you seen my- _oh_ ,” Perfuma says as she bursts into the room, her loud and bright tone going abruptly hushed at the sight of the two sleeping princesses.

Her quest for her hairbrush is abandoned as she tries her best not to squeal giddily over how sweet and adorable the sight before her is. She doesn’t want to wake them, especially seeing how cozy they are tangled up together.

She supposes she should’ve considered that most aren’t early risers like her. In her kingdom, it’s fairly common, her and her subjects content to wake early to experience the beauty of dawn, of birdsong and a sky lit up peach and gold.

But she sees the appeal now. Not that she’s never slept in but, well, it seems different sleeping in with someone else. Glimmer and Adora are curled up into each other, Glimmer pressed up against Adora’s back, face tucked into her neck and legs tangled together. A strand of Adora’s hair is in Glimmer’s mouth, which is slightly less appealing but still cute, in a weird way. Glimmer’s arms and legs are wrapped around Adora, her legs around her waist and her hands coming to rest loosely on her stomach.

Like an octopus or something, Perfuma thinks and then giggles to herself, overwhelmed by affection and just a bit of longing.

The sound makes Adora stir and Perfuma freezes up, like staying very still and very quiet would counteract the noise. It isn’t surprising that Adora’s a light sleeper, considering her time in the Hoard and the military lifestyle she’s led for most of her life. If anything, it’s surprising that she isn’t an early riser too.

Perfuma supposes sleeping in the same bed as Glimmer, who looks dead to the world and in no hurry to change that, might have broken her out of the habit. She wonders how often an occurrence it is, if it’s full time or only occasionally; Glimmer’s room looks pretty lived in, so Glimmer probably doesn’t sleep here all the time, but thinking about it, _Adora’s_ room doesn’t look particularly lived in.

It must not be a rare occurrence though, because as Adora’s eyes slowly open, despite Perfuma’s best efforts to will them shut through the sheer force of pretending to be a statue, she doesn’t seem particularly startled to find Glimmer clinging onto her.

She does look pretty surprised at the sight of her own bed, though, which. Huh. Mystery solved.

“Uh,” Adora says, blinking at her groggily, “Hi?”

“Morning!” Perfuma whispers back, waving cheerily, “Uh, have you seen my hairbrush?”

“Um,” Adora replies, “I dunno, you were in Mermista’s room the other day, right?”

“Oooh, yeah, maybe! I look there! Thanks, Adora! Sorry for waking you, you should go back to sleep, you look very comfy!” Perfuma advises, trying not to sound too much like- well, like she thinks this situation is adorable and can’t stop grinning because of it.

“Okay,” Adora says, bemused. Glimmer mumbles against her neck. Adora hushes her gently and reassuring pats her hand. Perfuma tries not to squeal.

She doesn’t hold back when she’s back outside in the hallway though.

And she thought Netossa and Spinerella were cute.

 

**3.**

“It’s so cute,” Scorpia mocks the little purple princess, “how you’ve come to rescue your girlfriend. Futile. But cute.”

“I’ll show you futile,” the princess- Glimmer, yes, that’s it, she knows she should remember but there’s a lot of them now- growls and then, as if the words have only just processed, blinks and says, “Also she’s not my girlfriend.”

“No?” Scorpia says, a little baffled. “Really?”

“Uh, yeah,” Glimmer says, the fight going out of her a little when she realises that Scorpia wants to finish this conversation before they fight.

“Are you sure?” Scorpia persists because. Huh. That doesn’t seem right.

“I’m… pretty sure, yeah,” Glimmer responds, bewildered. “Can we, uh, fight now?”

“Yeah, sure!” Scorpia says agreeably. “But like. If hypothetically this wasn’t completely futile and you weren’t going to fail, uh. You should give it a go.”

“Give it a go,” Glimmer repeats, seemingly torn between complete confusion and frustration. Scorpia’s just trying to be helpful.

“Yeah, tell her how you feel!” Scorpia encourages and then, “...Hypothetically.”

“... thanks?” Glimmer says after she stumbles over what to say for a few minutes. Most of it didn’t sound like words, just affronted animal noises.

“You’re welcome!” Scorpia beams. “Nothing better than young love! Well, maybe victory. They’re on a par?”

Glimmer takes things into her own hands and lunges to attack instead of responding. Rude. Fair, maybe, but still.

The way the two passionately embrace once they not-so-hypothetically beat them is very sweet, enough so that Scorpia isn’t as disappointed as she should be.

What can she say? She’s a romantic.

 

**4.**

“I’ve just had a fantastic idea!” Sea Hawk says and when Mermista doesn’t respond, “Do you wanna hear it?”

“No.”

“We should go on a double date,” Sea Hawk declares.

“Not a good idea,” Mermista says, a little predictably, “Netossa is still mad at me for insulting her nets.”

Sea Hawk frowns. “I wasn’t talking about Netossa and Spinerella. I was talking about Adora and Glimmer!”

Sea Hawk can’t contain his absolute delight when Mermista actually looks up from where she was filing her nails to frown at him. He has her attention. Excellent.

“Adora and Glimmer aren’t a couple,” Mermista says, which is clearly ridiculous, but she only frowns harder when he laughs, so maybe it’s not.

“Yes, they are?”

“No, they’re not.”

“Darling, I’m not stupid,” Sea Hawk protests and politely ignores Mermista’s skeptical look. “I know passion when I see it.”

“Passion?” Mermista asks flatly and then grimaces like she regrets it.

“Passion!” Sea Hawk explains. “The longing looks, the affectionate touches, the tender concern after a fight, the rocky beginning they overcame, the- “

“Babe,” Mermista says, raising an eyebrow down at him where he had collapsed in her lap after dramatically swooning. “Have you been reading those trashy romance novels again?”

“Yes,” he replies, matter-of-fact and unashamed. “I think you’d like them.”

“Uh-huh,” she says and then sighing, “I’ll ask Adora when I next see her, okay? No promises about how it turns out.”

Sea Hawk beams at her. Mermista rolls her eyes, but Sea Hawk knows she’s suppressing a smile. It’s very endearing.

“You’re the best.”

“I know.”

 

**5.**

“Why didn't you tell me you and Adora were dating?” Bow yells, bursting into Glimmer’s room. It’s dramatic, yes, but he thinks he has the right to be a little dramatic.

“Me and Adora are dating?” Glimmer responds, bewildered, and then, her brain catching up to the words, “Ugh, have you been talking to Scorpia?”

“No,” Bow replies and then, baffled, “Why would I be talking to our enemy about your love life?”

Glimmer throws up her hands. “I dunno! Why would our enemy be talking to _me_ about _my_ love life?”

“Do you want me to answer that?” Bow says feebly, wondering where all of his righteous conviction went. He definitely came here with an idea in his mind about how the conversation would go and this… is not it.

Glimmer deflates a bit at the bewilderment in his voice. “Scorpia thought me and Adora were dating. And she, like, didn’t believe me when I said we weren’t.”

“You’re not?”

“Ugh, _really_ , Bow?”

Bow puts his hands up in surrender. “Hey, look, don’t shoot the messenger. It’s just, everyone else thinks you’re dating.”

“ _Everyone thinks we’re dating?!_ ”

“Uh, yeah,” Bow says and then flops down next to her on her bed.

“How did that happen?”

Bow shrugs. “I dunno, I guess you’re kinda like,” he twists two fingers tight together.

“Yeah, but we’re kinda,” Glimmer mimics the gesture, “and no-one thinks we’re dating.”

“Well, your aunt kinda did for a while. Also, you don’t really… look at me like you look at Adora.”

“Like I look at- _hey_!” she protests and whacks him in the chest with a pillow. “I look at Adora like a _friend_.”

Bow looks at her. She looks back.

“I _do_.”

“Uh-huh,” Bow responds. “If it’s any consolation, Adora looks at you the same way.”

“She does?” Glimmer asks, lighting up with hope, and then, realising her slip-up, flushes and whacks Bow on the chest again.

“So everyone thinks you’re dating but you’re not but you want to be,” Bow sums up, courageously ignoring Glimmer’s pillow attacks.

“Bow,” Glimmer whines, because as much as she’s different from her mother, she has the same awkwardness about _feelings_ talks. Well, her own feelings anyway. After a few seconds of Bow raising a very patient eyebrow at her, she caves and says, “Yeah, pretty much.”

“So, what you gonna do about it?” Bow urges, smiling encouragingly.

“...Nothing?”

“Wrong answer.”

_“Bow.”_

_“Glimmer._ What’s the worst that can happen?”

Glimmer stares at him like he’s a complete moron. “Uh, she rejects me and it makes our friendship awkward and then the Princess Alliance falls apart and then the Hoard wins and-”

“Glimmer! Seriously?”

“You _asked_.”

“I- it was a rhetorical question! And you’re being extremely dramatic. And she’s not going to reject you.”

“You don’t know that,” Glimmer mutters sullenly.

“Uh, yeah, I do,” Bow says, “I have eyes, for one. So does everyone else, that’s why they think you’re together. I was coming here first to yell at you for not telling me and then to congratulate you for finally doing something instead of pining.”

“I do not _pine,_ ” Glimmer protests, obstinate as ever.

“Sure, okay. But c’mon, Glimmer. You can’t just… not doing anything about it.”

“Sure I can,” Glimmer says, but at Bow’s deep and exasperated sigh concedes, “I’ll think about it. Bow… you really think she likes me back?”

“Definitely,” Bow responds firmly. “I’d even say she...adores you.”

“Ugh, okay, out now.”

 

**+1**

As soon as Adora receives Castaspella’s package and sees what it is, she goes to find Glimmer.

She spontaneously decides, when she reaches the door to Glimmer’s room, to change into her gift.

It’s a sweater, lumpy and thick and very soft; the wool is a pretty violet, almost exactly the colour of Glimmer’s cape and it’s patterned with pink and blue wool too. Adora isn’t sure it looks good, exactly, and she is sure it won’t suit her, but it makes her feel… weird and warm inside, but in a good way. It’s sweet. Adora gets why Glimmer finds her aunt overbearing but she’s personally touched by the gesture. It feels like acceptance.

She doesn’t bother knocking when she enters Glimmer’s room, since she spends most of her time here anyway. Sleeps in Glimmer’s bed way more than her own. Glimmer offered once to have her room made more like hers and Adora loved the way she beamed and blushed when she told her that she liked her room because of who it belonged to, not what it looked like.

If she’s honest, she doesn’t get why someone would want a bed that far from the floor anyway. So, yeah, it’s definitely Glimmer and not her furniture.

“Oh,” Glimmer says at the sight of her, grimacing a little, “You got one too, huh?”

“Yup!” Adora says cheerfully. “It isn’t gorgeous? I think I’m gonna swap my jacket out for it.”

Adora can only keep a straight face for a few seconds before Glimmer’s poorly veiled horror gets to her and sends her into peals of laughter.

“Your face!” she wheezes.

“You’re terrible,” she complains, but she’s looking at her with fond eyes and a soft smile. Adora likes that expression. Adora likes most of Glimmer’s expressions, but that might be her favourite.

“You love me,” Adora teases and Glimmer stutters in reply, her smile dropping and now she’s like she’s been for the past few days, jittery and distant.

“I- did you read the letter?”

“Oh, no, I was too excited by the squishy package. I can open it now?”

“No!” Glimmer yells and then grimaces at her own abruptness. “Uh, no, I wouldn’t.”

“Glimmer,” Adora says softly and hates it when Glimmer grimaces even more. “What’s going on?”

For a moment, Adora thinks Glimmer’s going to deflect again and prepares herself for it. But Glimmer gets that look in her eye, that spark of determination that appears when she prepares herself to do something risky. Adora also loves that expression; it’s distracting her in battle on more occasions that she’d like to admit.

“Everyone thinks we’re dating,” Glimmer says and despite that determined gleam in her eye it sounds like it’s being torn from her, her face grim and reluctant as she admits it. Like she thinks Adora going to spontaneously combust into flames or something.

Adora’s dealt with weirder things than mass miscommunication. Even if it does hit a little closer to home. She’s torn between hope and dread, but tries to not freak out at the implications.

“ _Everyone-_ everyone?” Adora asks and Glimmer’s clearly relieved that Adora’s taken a calm approach to this.

“Pretty much.”

“Dating, like Sea Hawk and Mermista? Netossa and Spinerella?” Adora asks, just for confirmation, because a lot of things are new to her and she doesn’t want to misunderstand anything.

“Yup,” Glimmer replies, looking closely at her face like she’s trying to figure out how she feels about it. Confused, mostly.

“If we were dating, wouldn’t we tell them that? Why didn’t they just...ask?”

“Good question,” Glimmer replies and now it’s starting to feel less like something to feel awkward about and more like an inside joke. “I mean, Bow did. And Scorpia.”

“Scorpia?” Adora asks, unsure how that would’ve come up in a fight.

Glimmer waves her hand dismissively. “Yeah, it was weird. I guess everyone just… assumed.”

There’s a lull then, a stretch of silence where they both seem to struggle to decide on what to say.

“It bothers you?” Adora asks, trying to sound casual and not like she’s opened herself up to heartbreak.

“Yes. I mean, no. I mean, yeah, like, because we’re not and everyone has been talking about us and not _to_ us, which is dumb because it’s about us, but not like- it doesn’t bother me, like, the thought of it.”

Adora can only stare at her, a little lost and trying to figure out what exactly any of that meant. Glimmer talks fast when she’s nervous. Nervous is different from disgust though, that dumb hopeful part in Adora’s brain whispers.

Glimmer grimaces again, sighing. “I’m messing this up.”

“Messing this up?” Adora says, frowning and bewildered and trying to figure out how to calm Glimmer down when she doesn’t even know what she’s talking about, her brain too scrambled from information overload to work out exactly what she's saying. “What are you-”

Glimmer kisses her.

It’s quick and awkward, only half on her mouth because Glimmer’s reaching up, on her tiptoes with her hands on Adora’s shoulders to steady her, but Adora’s too thrown off to meet her half way and make it a proper kiss.

By the time her brain has caught up, Glimmer's already gone, the warmth of her replaced by cold nothingness, leaving her dazed and wanting. 

Glimmer's teleporting anxiously about, flittering about from place to place like a hummingbird and stumbling through apologies, while Adora stands still and dumbstruck.

Not for long though, because her brain has finally stopped malfunctioning and the need to act, to do something, to gap the distance Glimmer has put between them in her panic, spurs her into action. 

Adora catches her by the arm as she appears close enough for her to do so, a little dizzy from watching her move so quick and a little overwhelmed from, well, everything. This time when they kiss, Adora’s the one who initiates it and tries to make it less panic-filled than the last one, despite the buzzing of her nerves. Just like Adora before, Glimmer freezes in confusion, but catches on a lot quicker than Adora had.

It’s a proper kiss this time, no confusion or fear of rejection. Adora leans down, taking Glimmer’s face into her hands and smiling a bit into the kiss at how warm her cheeks are; Glimmer reaches up, one hand on a shoulder and the other on a hip, reeling Adora in closer. It’s not quick, this time, it lingers, and it's only awkward for a few moments before they figure each other out.

Second time lucky, Adora figures.

“You do like me back,” Glimmer breathes, awe and joy in her voice, when they break apart, like she’s just realised. They’re not kissing anymore, but they’re still close, close enough that Adora can feel how relaxed she is, especially compared to just seconds before.

“Well,” Adora says, affectionate and exasperated, “Duh.”

Glimmer laughs, relieved and a little hysterical and most of all delighted, and kisses her again.

 

“You gonna show me your sweater?” Adora says after a while of trading lazy kisses on Glimmer’s bed. They’re probably being grossly affectionate, but Adora hasn’t had this before, so she figures she’s allowed to make up for lost time. Anyway, it’s nice. She hadn’t realised it could be so nice. She figures maybe it’s this nice because it’s Glimmer, though.

“It’s red,” Glimmer mumbles into her neck. Turns out cuddling is even better when you don’t have to worry about being appropriately platonic.

“Like my jacket,” Adora realises and can’t help feel delighted. It also makes her think of Glimmer wearing her jacket, which is a lovely thought, even if it would look ridiculous and oversized on Glimmer.

“Please don’t encourage my embarrassing aunt,” Glimmer complains.

“It’s cute,” Adora protests. “Also she didn’t exactly need encouragement.”

“True. But still.”

“Wait, was this like a… ‘hey-you’re-dating-my-niece’ present? Is that a thing?”

“Apparently.”

“Is that why you didn’t want me to read the letter?” Adora wonders, suddenly very intrigued about what exactly it says. Not intrigued enough to actually get up and look though. Nothing less than a full-blown Hoard attack or the apocalypse could get her to shift now.

“I wanted you to hear from me,” Glimmer explains and Adora feels her sigh against her neck, unable to suppress a shiver, “Not that that went great. Probably should’ve planned it.”

“It turned out alright, though, right?”

“You saved it,” Glimmer says, embarrassed but grinning. “Like you always do.”

“Hey, team effort, like it always is,” Adora argues and then adds, “Also it would have gone exactly the same, if not worse, if the roles were reserved, so.”

Glimmer sighs again, happier this time, and snuggles closer. “I should probably go and tell Bow. He was mad at me when I didn’t tell him we were dating when we actually weren’t dating.”

“You really want to move?” Adora asks incredulously and shuffles even closer to Glimmer, stroking her hair. Kisses her on the cheek for good measure, just because she can.

“That’s cheating,” Glimmer accuses, but she’s grinning wide and fond, ducking her head in encouragement of Adora’s hair-stroking. She sighs. “I guess he can wait a bit longer. After all, he’s experienced more of us dating than _we_ have, apparently.”

“Everyone has,” Adora points out.

“Yeah,” Glimmer says, sighing contently, “We’re gonna have to fix that.”


End file.
